Valeri Nichushkin powered the puck past Jake Ottinger with 13-seconds left to force overtime and the hated Avalanche prevailed in the shootout to beat our Dallas Stars last night in a wild one at American Airlines Center. It was everything we expected, including the insane finish–it just didn’t go our way.

Again.

I can’t remember the last time we watched the Stars win a game in person. We do only attend once a year, sometimes twice, and we do only see the best of the best: longtime division rivals with playoff seeding on the line. But, the Stars have gone to the Western Conference Finals three straight years; this is a great team; you’d think we’d see them win a game we attend every now and then.

Our youngest daughter, Carley, and Carrie-Anne were blaming themselves for the rotten luck, until they both, almost at the same time, realized that I am the common denominator in the disappointment equation. The games Carley hasn’t made, I was there. The games Carrie-Anne stayed home, I was there. I think they’re secretly planning a girls-only Stars game now and I won’t know about it until Dallas beats Minnesota 6-5 or something.

The air really went out of the arena last night and, out of the Stars, too, it appeared, when Roope Hintz had to be carried off the ice midway through the second period with a knee injury. It looked terrible and, I think, contributed to Dallas blowing their 4-2 lead and losing the shootout.

Even with all that, we just had a wonderfully fabulous evening. We were up in the rafters, nosebleed seats, one row from the very top, but the place was packed, it was a battle between the top two teams in the NHL, it was a Friday night, it was against the Avs, and there was a lot riding on the outcome. So, it was everything we expected. Everything we wanted. Everything we love about Stars games.

Almost.

Peace,
Allan